184 SYCAMORE WARBLER 



SYCAMORE WARBLER 



DENDROICA DOMINICA ALBILORA Ridgw. 



Subspecific Characters. Similar to Dendroica d. dotninica but bill 

 smaller, line from above eye to bill generally white or but slightly tinged with 

 yellow, never strongly yellow as in dotninica; white patches on tail-feathers 

 averaging larger. Wing, 2.60; tail, 1.95; bill, 45- 



General Distribution. Mississippi Valley. 



Summer Range. From the Gulf of Mexico north to Ohio (Cleve- 

 land, Mt. Vernon, Rockport), southern Michigan (Detroit, Peters- 

 burg), and southern Wisconsin (Racine, Lake Koshkonong) ; west to 

 southeastern Nebraska (Nemaha River), and eastern Kansas (Ne- 

 osho Falls) ; east through the Alleghenies to western South Carolina. 



Winter Range. Southern Mexico to Costa Rica. 



Spring Migration. At New Orleans the Sycamore Warbler is 

 one of the earliest spring migrants. Dates of arrival are March 1 1, 1894, 

 March 9, 1895, March 7, 1896, and March 12, 1898. At Helena, Ark., 

 the first arrivals were noted on April 14, 1895, and April 10, 1897; at 

 St. Louis, April 4, 1884. April 6, 1885, April 12, 1886, April 10, 1887, 

 and April 13, 1888; in central Indiana about the middle of April; in 

 southern Michigan about April 20. A migrant was noted at Soto del 

 Marina, Tamaulipas, March i, 1902. 



Fall Migration. In the fall the Mississippi Valley form is, like 

 the eastern, an early migrant, being one of the first birds to return 

 in autumn to the Rio Grande of Texas. It is recorded as arriving 

 at Orizaba, Mexico, August 10; Chiapas, Mexico, August 13; 

 Colima, Mexico, in August; Duefias, Guatemala, by the middle of 

 August; Bonacca Island, Honduras, and Truxillo, on the mainland, in 

 September ; and at San Jose, Costa Rica, October 4. In the northern 

 part of its range it lingers somewhat later than the eastern form. The 

 last to pass southward do not leave Indiana and Missouri until well 

 into October. 



The Bird and its Haunts. This slightly differentiated Mississippi 

 Valley form of the Yellow-throated Warbler resembles the Atlantic 

 Coast bird in habits. In the Galveston region of Texas, Nehrling 

 states that it is a rare summer resident in the high moss-grown forest 

 trees of the river bottoms. Allison writes that in southern Louisiana, 

 "it has a strong liking for woods shrouded in heavy festoons of Spanish 

 moss, and, therefore, keeps much to the cypress swamps; but it is 

 common in the less damp woods in the same regions; on the northern 

 shores of Lake Pontchartrain it spreads slightly from the cypress 

 swamp into the pines. It is essentially a bird of the larger trees, and 

 swampy forest may be considered its typical habitat." (Allison, MS.} 



